The Bimaristan Arghun

Aleppo’s Mamluk hospital. Arghun al-Kamili had it built in 1354, and it worked as a hospital into the early 20th century. In its later years it took mainly patients with mental illness. They were not shut into a dark room but housed around a courtyard with light and water in it — you can read that in the plan.

Getting there

In the al-Jalloum quarter, on the road that runs up to Bab Qinnesrin. Walk north from the gate and the road brings you straight here. You stay inside the old city; no taxi needed.

What to see

The plan is simple and reads at a glance. An entrance corridor, then the courtyard; an iwan on the north side and another on the south, patient rooms east and west. An octagonal stone basin with a small fountain stands in the middle. The doors of the rooms are narrow, the courtyard wide open.

How patients were treated

The method recorded here does not sound strange today: plenty of light, fresh air, running water and music. The fountain was not an ornament. Its sound counted as part of the treatment, and the rooms are set out exactly where that sound carries.

How it stands today

Al-Jalloum and its surroundings were on the front line between 2012 and 2016, and roughly a third of the old city was destroyed. Repair work in the souqs continues and the shops are reopening in turn. Whether the bimaristan’s door is open varies from day to day, so confirm it on the spot.

Do not miss

The entrance door itself. The wooden leaves are sheathed in brass and worked in geometric panels, and the marble inscription above them gives the year 755 in the Islamic calendar, that is 1354. Most visitors walk through it into the courtyard and never turn round to look.